Girl Meets Ski Lodge (Part 1)
Girl Meets Ski Lodge (Part 1) is the eighth episode in season 3 of Girl Meets World and the 59th episode overall. It aired on July 22, 2016 to 2.2 million viewers. Overview When Cory becomes the head of the Nature Club, the whole gang heads out on a trip to a familiar ski lodge. Plot With autumn in full color, the members of the AAHS Nature Club are in Cory's classroom preparing to go on a weekend field trip to Mount Sun Lodge, the very same ski lodge Cory and Topanga went to when they were younger. Cory, who chose to head the Nature Club, is dramatically making the trip sound as though any one of several dangerous things could happen to them while there. Maya and Lucas are wondering why Cory sounds so angry; Riley answers that when Cory was their age, he was kissed by another girl at the very same ski lodge-- a situation that nearly ended his relationship with Topanga. Cory goes on to talk about "the other kind of nature": "the human kind". Cory warns the students that, as their chaperone, he will be dogging their every step, but he is even more concerned about the "three-headed creeping triangle that won't die", namely the still-unresolved triangle between Riley, Maya and Lucas. Maya is confident that she has her own human nature under control, but when Joshua (followed by Topanga) walks into the classroom announcing that he too will be chaperoning the trip, Maya loses her cool. The group barely arrives at Mount Sun Lodge when Riley sprains her right foot falling off the bus. Lucas makes the observation that Cory's "nature" discourse was focused on the triangle. Riley reminds him that they put the triangle on hold so that Maya could find herself, but now that Maya is back to her old self again, Lucas points out the new angle to the triangle in the person of Joshua, but Maya brushes it off saying that Joshua is only a fantasy. Joshua welcomes the students to the lodge and reminds them that the weekend is a time to turn their thoughts away from indoor relationships and toward their relationship with the outdoors, but Zay is not so sure that will happen, pointing to adult couples who are there and flirting with one another; Topanga is mortified when she sees a sign near the entrance saying "COUPLES WEEKEND". The sign also reads: "1 - NATURE SEZ: TREE'S A CROWD" "2 - MOONLIGHT WALK: TRIANGLE TRAIL" (and, in magic marker added by Farkle) "RILEY, MAYA AND LUCAS: ENOUGH ALREADY!" Everyone settles in, and Riley, now wearing a cast boot on her injured foot, is sitting in the lobby bay window when a single red leaf drifts in and lands in her lap. When Farkle, Smackle, Zay, Lucas and Maya all return from a trail hike, Lucas is annoyed at Maya because she broke the trail rules, though Farkle claimed that Maya was helping him because he fell off the trail chasing a rare moth for his collection. When Maya tries to downplay it saying Lucas likes when they tangle, Lucas disagrees. Farkle, Smackle and Zay walk away while Lucas and Maya sit with Riley in the bay window. Riley shows them the leaf that blew in the window, and Lucas remarks about Riley's romanticism; Riley declares that the triangle has to die, but neither Maya nor Lucas see how it will happen. Riley remarks that with the changing seasons, nature is stronger and knows that the time has come for their situation to be resolved one way or another. Riley reminds Lucas that he has already made a choice between the two of them, but Lucas says it's a decision that they all need to agree upon. Joshua arrives with a handful of movies to pick from that they all can watch; Maya wants to watch a couple-in-love spy thriller while Riley prefers a romantic film, but then Joshua decides that the drama emanating from the triangle is better than any of the videos they have to choose from. Lucas declares that if they're going to end the triangle, they should imagine what their lives will be like going either way. Maya goes first, envisioning Lucas and herself in a movie about a super-spy couple: Lucas as "Huckleberry Bond", a cool by-the-book secret agent, and Maya is "The Bomb", a perpetual rule-breaking risk taker. Riley believes that the two would constantly be at each other's throats, while Maya thinks Riley is just jealous that their relationship would be more adventurous. Conversely, Riley visualizes her and Lucas starring in a cheesy "chick flick", in which Riley meets Lucas, the two fall madly in love, break up, then reunite, and then everyone else dies from what Joshua calls "Gooey Sap Disease", which in the movie eventually kills Riley as well while only Lucas, Maya and Joshua survive. Back to reality, the three are still afraid to end the triangle because each one cares too much about the other two to make the first move. The others, especially Zay, are expecting the whole thing to culminate in a huge fight, but the three are determined not to let that happen. Disappointed, most of the others leave; Riley wonders whether or not only nature can resolve the triangle, and Lucas remarks that whatever decision they come to, it will only be the right one if the three remain friends. Topanga sends everyone off to bed, but Riley is not sleepy and decides to stay up for awhile. Moments after sitting down at the lobby bay window to gaze at the stars, Evan, the night clerk, comes in to begin his shift. Minutes later, he comes over, offers Riley a cup of hot cocoa, and sits down next to her and the two start talking... (For Part 2, click here) Cast Main cast *Rowan Blanchard as Riley Matthews *Ben Savage as Cory Matthews *Sabrina Carpenter as Maya Hart *Peyton Meyer as Lucas Friar *August Maturo as Auggie Matthews *Corey Fogelmanis as Farkle Minkus *Danielle Fishel as Topanga Matthews Recurring cast *Uriah Shelton as Joshua Matthews *Amir Mitchell-Townes as Zay Babineaux *Cecilia Balagot as Isadora Smackle Guest cast *Curran Walters as Evan International Premieres * September 9, 2016 (Australia) * December 22, 2016 (Latin America, Brazil) Quotes Trivia *Michael Jacobs, one of the creators of the show, revealed the episode's title on Twitter, as one of the season 3 script ideas he liked. *Auggie appears only in the first part of this two-part episode, and then as a minor character in both Riley and Maya's fantasies (He portrays a card dealer named "Crybaby" in Maya's movie, and then appears as Cupid in Riley's movie). *Cory had the choice of either being in charge of the Nature Club or the Ski Club, but due to Topanga's restrictions, he had to choose the Nature Club. *Lauren, the girl who fell for Cory Matthews during his ski trip to the same lodge, is mentioned but not seen in this episode or in Part 2. As the gang first arrives at the lodge, Topanga mistakes an elderly woman working at the front counter for Lauren, remarking "Lauren didn't age very well, I'm just saying." *Riley's stuffed purple cat is named Violet. *Maya saves Farkle from falling off a cliff. *Both Farkle and Isadora collect lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). *Riley falling off the bus and hurting her ankle is the exact same thing that happened to her father in "Heartbreak Cory". *This is the "twist episode" the writers were talking about. *The ski lodge is the Mount Sun Lodge, the same one from Boy Meets World, right down to the lobby's bay window, which was used only as background in the original. *Darby and Yogi are officially shipped in this episode, adopting the portmanteau "Yoby." *In Riley's fantasy, Sarah and Zay are a couple and are on a date in the background. *Fourth episode to have imaginary scenes. *Smackle being called "Chipmunk" by Maya is a callback to Girl Meets Smackle, when Maya describes Smackle as a "gopher-chipmunk combo." *In the fantasy sequences, Lucas and Maya and Lucas and Riley almost kiss. *Maya's fantasy is a parody/hybrid of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and the James Bond films, while Riley's fantasy lampoons the 1970 epic romantic drama "Love Story". *This is Josh's first appearance since season 2. *First appearance of Evan. *Nature Club Members **Riley **Maya **Farkle **Lucas **Zay **Smackle **Sarah **Darby **Yogi **Jade **Yindra **Wyatt **Jeffrey **Nigel Goofs *Riley said that Cory and Topanga were her age when they went to Mount Sun Lodge, but they were seniors, not freshmen. 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